In a time where later in this century the collected minorities will become a majority of the electorate, they want to marginalize communities of color when it comes to the internet.

Your answer in the form of a question, queue the Jeopardy theme music...

Posted by Wemble on 2014-03-01 17:52:44

Back in those days there was constant upgrading going on, in other words, progress was being made yearly toward a goal of everyone having a phone. Also, in those days your ability to access commerce, education and general information was not limited in the way it is today with the lack of affordable high speed internet. To put your rant in perspective if we had the same thinking 60 to 70 years ago that we seem to have now, rural electrification would have never happened and poorer areas of our country would still be dark. Electrification allowed economic development in areas that otherwise would have remained undeveloped. The same is true of high speed data lines. Measuring every fiber line installed by short term ROI is going to ensure that we continue to slip in comparison to the rest of the developed world. So, yes, we will continue to whine about this issue as we believe it is a very useful cause, even if we risk dragging some along that really didn't see anything wrong with kerosene lamps and outdoor toilets.

Posted by batel12 on 2014-03-01 16:55:37

Oh big deal! Back in the days of land line phones only, some of my friends did not have phones in their houses. Others had party lines. Only a few had dedicated lines. Was that exactly 100% equal? When are you whining ninny-nanny cry babies going to go do something useful?

Posted by Cicero on 2014-03-01 16:20:53

It's always the same. Any time we get anything worthwhile and that serves the public good, greedy corporations figure out a way to steal it and rent it back to us. What a weak bunch of sheep we are.

Posted by Dam Spahn on 2014-03-01 14:02:10

Thanks for the clear, accessible explanation and update. The "sponsored data " stuff is really pernicious . Many people don't realize how much their personal worldview and access to information is already manipulated and limited by class, education and income. I heard about this article on the Majority Report podcast--something that the great Overlords would no doubt want to sponsor...

Posted by Nancy Cadet on 2014-02-26 14:00:44

The United States already - and very systematically - lags behind much of the rest of the industrialized world in broadband access, and not only charges far more for the access it does provide, but delivers far less in terms of speed and service. The filthy rich telecoms, which take advantage of every Federal and State tax loophole their lobbyists and lawyers can write into law for them, have successfully created low-information gulags within the United States, disproportionately affecting poor and working poor areas - areas which tend to be populated by older people, language-challenged people, and people of color.All this is, is the latest wave of corporations who get every benefit imaginable (and who get more every day), using their monumental muscle to keep Americans marginalized by class, and for the simple reason that it pads juicily, their bottom line. It's not democracy, it's capitalism - and it is capitalism at its very worst.